On 12 December 2013 the Pretoria High Court set aside the sale-in-execution of a mortgaged home belonging to a Soweto family. While the family had paid the entire amount due to the bank, it sold their home on public auction anyway. By SERI’s calculations (which FNB did not dispute) between the date on which summons was issued and the date on which the sale took place the Thwalas paid about R500 more than the total value of the default judgment, plus interest and other payments to FNB.
SERI lawyers argued that this rendered the sale void. The court agreed. Acting Judge Van Niekerk set aside the sale declaring that the default judgment had been satisfied before the sale in execution took place and that there was “no lawful basis for FNB to proceed, as it did, with the sale in execution".